Visited my property for hunting season this past week. The throw and mow plots are holding their own against the disc'd plots.
My uncle had called my dad stating that the throw and mow plots were a bust a month ago. I swore to them it was due to no rain - the typical rain event around labor day was early this year by a week. Our area of SW Missouri seems to have rain through July 4th, gets dry until a short burst in early Sept, then starts raining again in late Sept/early Oct. Since we missed the rain event, the seed just sat there for almost a month. It is coming on nicely now - in fact the only place on the farm that had radish/turnip bulbs are the throw and mow plots (albeit very very small bulbs).
My father even admitted that the throw and mow plots are doing much better than he expected. We have cameras and cages showing deer utilization. He also looked at the exclusion cages compared to the rest of the plot and commented (without my prompting) "we need to expand these plots, there isn't enough food for the deer".
I took a Doe from one of the throw and mow plots. We took 7 deer off the property so far this season, all but 2 were taken in the plots or just off the plots. The other 2 were in the oaks getting acorns.
I'm calling 2020 a continued success year for our plotting. Now that hunting is over for my father and i, we are starting to plan for 2021. Is it too early to plan? Nahhhhh, i was "dreaming" of what to do next while sitting in the stands. Agenda items for 2021 currently discussed : clear timber for a new 1 acre plot on central ridgetop, expand 2 smaller plots into 1 larger plot, clear non-nut producing trees along one road to allow for a thin and winding clover plot, and cut shooting lanes for 2 new stand locations.